The Bit You Don't Hear About
by LadyOfGlass
Summary: So, you fight orcs, you fight goblins, you face a dragon (sort of), you lose a few companions and then you...And then what do you do? Major Spoilers If You Don't Know How The Book Ends


**Author's Note: Go on, lads! Today is 'Clean Out The Document Folders Day'. So, get rid of all those little oneshots that you've been fooling around with, and post 'em right up here! It doesn't matter if they suck!**

** So, I'm writing a Fili/OC romance fic (my first romance fic ever), and I just thought I'd stick this up because...it might not suck. It might be good. I don't know.**

"I can't believe it," said Bofur "Through trolls, spiders, goblins, orcs, not to mention a dragon - and then not half an hour into the battle an arrow comes out of nowhere..."

The seven other dwarves sitting around - and in Nori's case, on - the table made various sympathetic noises.

"Can't you buy another one?" asked Ori. He was sitting between Oin and Gloin, both of whom were watching with some interest as he began a quite detailed drawing of the interior of the feasting hall in which they sat.

"Buy another one?" Bofur echoed, in tones of sheer disbelief "'Course I can't buy another one. No, a few stitches and it'll be fine."

He held up his hat, and they could all see the jagged hole that had been ripped in the fabric of one of the three flaps.

"Well, it might've been worse," said Nori "If I hadn't seen it sticking out from under that warg, you'd have lost the thing altogether."

"True," Bofur said, taking the long needle that Bombur passed him and setting to work sewing up the tear.

They watched him sew for a bit, as around them the dwarves from the Iron Hills hurried this way and that.

"Where are Balin and Dwalin?" Dori asked, looking around.

"They left early this morning, with Bilbo," said Bombur, around a mouthful of the mince pie that he was eating "They said they'd find Dis, and tell her what happened."

"We should all go," Gloin said, as beside him Ori paused in his drawing and Bofur stopped stitching for a moment.

"Aye, and we will," said Bofur "But Dwalin and Balin were close to Thorin. Dis'll want to hear this from them, first."

The ensuing silence was filled with things that they weren't going to say aloud.

We'd have died to save the three of them, if we could. Kili. Fili. And Thorin, our king. But we didn't, and we can't do anything but go on. And we can say a lot of things now, but we don't have to, do we? Because we all know what we're thinking.

"Why did you all come?" asked Dori, after a moment "Come on the quest, I mean."  
The other dwarves looked a bit surprised at this - it was a question that hadn't come up before.

"I came because you and Ori were going," Nori said.

"We heard we'd get a fourteenth of the treasure," said Gloin, while Oin nodded "And we did."

"Told us the beer would be free," said Bofur, speaking for both his brother and his cousin "Pity it wasn't though, not after we left Bilbo's house."

"And Erebor," Ori said, clearly anxious to make sure that this one was mentioned "We all came to get this, didn't we?"

There were a few nods and muttered comments along the lines of; 'Yeah, of course', and 'Well, that goes without saying...'.

"And what are you going to do now that it's over?" asked Dori, to the other dwarves in general, raising his voice a little to drown out Bofur's colourful exclamations as he stabbed himself with his needle.

"I'll go back to the mountains to tell my family the news, " Gloin said "Then I'll bring them back here."

"What about you, Nori?"

Nori had been in the process of tossing an apple into the air with his right hand and trying to catch it with his left, but when he heard Dori's question he started a little, with the unfortunate result of the apple soaring through the air and smacking Oin on the side of the head.

"I thought I might wait for a bit - collect my share of the treasure," began Nori "And then I think I'll disappear. I've found disappearing to be highly beneficial in the past."

"But we've got our home now," said Bombur, as they other dwarves, apart from Bofur who was still absorbed in his sewing, stared at Nori in surprise "You're surely not going to leave."

"Homes are only good when you can come back to them after a long journey," Nori said, looking unperturbed "I wouldn't love this place half so much if I had to stay here for good. No, I think I'll be off again. I've never really got the hang of settling down. Want to come with me, Ori?"

Ori looked up, so surprised by this question that he almost drew a long, slashing line clean across his drawing.

"What?"

"Do you want to come with me?" repeated Nori "I've sort of decided that travelling alone isn't nearly as good as travelling with company."

The other dwarves were now looking from Nori to Ori with rapt expressions that showed that they thought that this was too good an exchange to miss.

"Well..." Ori said, shooting a nervous at Dori to try and gauge his reaction to this "I don't think I will, thank you. I'd rather like to stay here, you see."

To everyone who had heard Ori express his desires to accompany his brother on his travels in the past, this was a decision that almost merited applause.

"If it's company you're after, I might come with you, Nori," said Bofur, not looking up from his stitching "I can't see myself going back to the toy-making business after this."

"Can you cook?" Nori asked, retrieving his apple from Oin and tossing it up in the air again.

"Not as well as Bombur, but I can make stew."

"In that case, you're more than welcome to come."

Bofur grinned, tying off the knot to secure his stitches and holding up the now repaired hat.

"See? Good as new, like I said."

Nori slide off the table and clapped his hands together, to draw the attention of the other dwarves.

"I heard that some the lads who came with Dain bought a barrel or two of Ale off'f Bard's men, and they've set up a pub down in the Lower Armory. Why don't we all go have a drink?"

"Did he say he's going to buy us all a drink?" asked Oin, with the impeccable and almost strategic timing of the spasmodically deaf.

Nori paused, but really, he was now the proud owner of more treasure than he knew what to do with. Why not?

"Yes, I'll buy," he said "I don't know about tomorrow, Bofur, but for today, you'll get as much free beer as you can drink."


End file.
